Blade
by blackwolfgirl87
Summary: Max and Fang have grown up and gotten married. The world is safe, and their daughter, Blade, is just starting at her new school. But what if things aren't what they seem? Read and review!
1. Chapter 1

**So here it is…my first Max Ride fanfic. I hope you like it, and if you do, review, review, review! I trade reviews for cookies and more chapters, you know…**

**Disclaimer: Max Ride and the Flock are all the creations of James Patterson. Blade and all other characters not in the Max Ride series are mine.**

"Blade!" my mom, Maximum Ride, called. "Come on in, honey. You need to get dressed for your first day!"

I sighed and folded my wings, dropping like a stone. Yeah, you read me right. Both my parents are human-avian hybrids. It was pretty much a guarantee that I would be too, you know? After about 500 feet, I unfurled my mottled fawn wings. Air caught under them and I drifted gently to the ground. I ran into the house and headed straight for the shower—flying first thing in the morning does absolutely nothing for a girl's hair.

Once I had sufficiently cleaned up, I chose my outfit. It was my first day at my new school, and I wanted to make a good impression. I ended up in dark, tight jeans, flip-flops, and a black lace cami layered under a turquoise tank—my favorite color. Sporty and tough, but pretty. The blue looked great with my streaky blond hair and permanently tan skin, both of which I had inherited from my mom and dad. Hopefully they would stand me in good stead in the freshman world of high school.

My dad, Fang, was waiting at the bottom of the stairs when I came down. "Try not to kill anyone," he said, and I grinned. "Good luck." He headed out the door. He worked at an animal rehab shelter, teaching the baby birds how to fly and stuff like that. He could actually get inside their minds, too, and understand them. It was amazing.

I sat down at the table and inhaled the huge breakfast my mom had made me. Well, huge for you. For me, it was just a normal-sized meal. She handed me two bulging lunch sacks and I stuffed them into my backpack.

"Good luck, sweetie," she said, smiling. "Do you want to fly, or should I drive you?"

"Drive," I answered immediately. I didn't want to seem _too_ different from the other kids, although my family's wings weren't exactly a secret. Well, when you save the world, it's hard to stay anonymous. So they went public, and they use their wings to do things others can't. It's cool, but sometimes I wish I could be normal.

Except normal girls can't fly.

The drive to school was mostly silent. I sat in the front seat, nervously tapping my fingernails against the dashboard. I used to chew them, but I'd finally managed to break myself of that habit.

"See you, Blade," she said, leaning over and quickly kissing me on the cheek. "Text me if you want to be picked up."

"By who?" I asked.

"One of the Flock. I have to go to work, remember?" Mom was an FBI combat instructor. I've gotta say, both of my parents have extremely cool jobs.

"No thanks," I said, shaking my head. I liked the Flock, but Angel would not get out of my head, Gazzy was possibly the most annoying grown up on the planet, and Nudge never shut up. I liked Iggy, but he couldn't drive because he was blind.

"Well, have fun. Bye!" Mom said, practically pushing me out of the car. She gunned the engine and drove away, causing pretty much everyone in the vicinity to stare at her, and then me. I felt my cheeks flame. _Great. Thanks, Mom._ Mom was cool, and everything, but she was still a mom.

I walked into school and headed for the office to pick up my schedule. The plump secretary smiled at me as I cautiously poked my head inside. "Something you need, dear?"

"Um, yeah. I'm Blade Ride, the new student?" I said, trying to see if she knew who I was.

Awareness brightened her features, and I saw her eyes sweep over my back, doing the usual check. I smiled tightly; I was used to this, but that didn't make it any less annoying. Because, yeah, people, I'm going to walk around with my wings out all the time. _Not._

"Here's your schedule, Blade," she said, handing me a sheet of paper. "Your first class is homeroom. "You have Ms. Rowan, so you'll have to go across the quad and up one floor. Good luck!"

And with that, I was on my way. I sauntered across the sunny grounds. It really was a beautiful campus.

Before I entered the classroom, I took a deep breath, bracing myself for the stares and questions that always came with a new group of students.

As soon as I opened the door, silence fell. The teacher--a youngish brunette—turned to look at me. "Hello. You must be Blade Ride," she said.

"Blade? That is _such_ a cool name," I heard someone whisper. I smiled a little, feeling more confident. "Yeah. Should I, um…?" I gestured to the rows of desks. She looked a little shocked.

"Well, if you want. But I'm sure the class would love it if you introduced yourself," she said eagerly.

I watched her for a moment, and then nodded. Oh, well, might as well get it over with.

"Well, um, my name's Blade Ride and we just moved here from Wisconsin," I said, making for my seat. I knew I wouldn't make it there, but I wanted to mess with the teacher just a little.

"Is there anything special about you?" Ms. Rowan asked. Aha!

"Um, well, I play lacrosse, and I can fly," I said, waiting for the inevitable reaction.

Mouths dropped open. Yep, there it was.

"Seriously?" a guy asked. "How?"

I smiled and shrugged off my backpack. I unfurled my wings just a little bit—my 13-foot wingspan wouldn't really fit in this dinky little classroom.

"Awesome!" Excited babbling broke out in the class. Ms. Rowan gasped and pretended like she hadn't thought this would happen.

"Now, now, class! Let's settle down!" she commanded authoritatively, clapping her hands. It did get a little quieter, but there were still quite a few whispered conversations going on in the corners of the room.

As I headed to my seat, I heard a girl say, "She thinks she's _so_ cool just because she has wings." As I looked around, glaring, I stumbled over an outstretched leg: the source of the muttering. I righted myself quickly and glowered at the skinny blond girl.

"You got something to say, why don't you say it to my face?" I snarled.

"Now, now, Blade!" Ms. Rowan gasped. "No fighting. Emma, say you're sorry."

"Sorry," spat the little blond. I glared viciously at her before continuing to my seat. I plopped down next to a hot blond guy, who glared at me too. Hmm. Probably Blond Bitch's boyfriend. I glared back at him.

A tall brunette sitting next to me smiled. "I'm Kate," she whispered, her blue eyes twinkling in a friendly way. "Blade is such a cool name. And nice job on Emma. Nobody likes her anyways, except for her clique and all the boys. She's a major slut."

I smiled back. "Funny, that's exactly how she struck me. What could have possibly made me think that?"

We stared at the girl's in-your-face outfit.

"Could it have been the very low cut shirt?"

"The red push-up bra?"

"The mini-mini skirt?"

"The four inch heels?"

By the time we had rattled off our list, it was all we could do to keep from cracking up.

"Shhhh," Ms. Rowan hissed, glancing over at us. We quieted down, determinedly not looking at each other, barely managing to keep the huge grins off our faces.

"So I'll meet you tomorrow at 10?" I confirmed. Ridiculously, this school ended their summer vacation on a Friday, so tomorrow would be Saturday.

Kate nodded. "Yep."

I grinned. "All righty then. See you tomorrow." I grabbed my backpack in both hands and unfurled my wings. Everybody around me gasped.

"Are you flying home?" Kate asked. "That is so, so cool! I wish I could fly!"

"It's pretty fun," I agreed. "Maybe I'll take you sometime."

She grinned at me. "That would be so fun! Oh, hey, my mom is here. See you!" She waved and ran off. I waved in reply and leaped into the air, pulling my wings down with a loud snap. I rose gracefully into the air, getting ready to fly away. But I looked down and spotted a bouncy blond head. I eyed my eraser wistfully. If only I could drop it onto her head…

But at this height, it would probably kill her. Ah, well. Another day, perhaps. I angled my body and shot toward home. As first days went, this one had been pretty great.

**I hope you liked it! If you did, remember, REVIEW! I love them. It will only take you a minute, and you'll make my day. Come on…you know you want to!**


	2. Sunburn

**Hey guys! And here it is…the second chapter! Here's where things get REALLY interesting. So, if you like it, remember, REVIEW! It's maybe—MAYBE—a minute out of your day.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride or the Flock. However, I DO own Blade and all other characters not in the MR series. Comprendes?**

I stayed in the air for almost half an hour, even though it would have taken me barely two minutes to get home. It was just such a beautiful day, you know?

When I finally touched down outside my house, I saw Aunt Nudge's car in the driveway and groaned. I had been so looking forward to a nice, peaceful afternoon.

Dragging my feet, I slouched into the kitchen. Nudge was sitting at the table, eating a carton of ice cream. Uncle Iggy was sitting next to her. When the door creaked, he looked up. "Hey, Blade. How was your first day?"

I grinned at him. Even though he couldn't see it, he would hear it in my voice. "It was good. I'm going shopping tomorrow with a girl I met."

He smiled. "That's my Blade."

I was about to say something else, but then Nudge looked up and opened her mouth. "Hey Blade! How did your first day go? Did you make any new friends? See any cute boys? Got any plans? How were your classes? Are your teachers nice? Did they give you too much homework…" and on and on and on.

"Take a breath, Nudge," Ig suggested. She stopped for maybe half a second and inhaled loudly, then went right back to her interrogation. Iggy and I sat there patiently until her breath ran out.

"Yeah, everything was good," I said. "I'm gonna go fly around for a little while. Bye!"

I spun around and almost ran for the door, grabbing my iPod speakers on the way out.

I was barely two hundred feet in the air before Iggy caught up with me. "She had a Coke today," he said, by way of explanation.

"Ah," I said. Nudge _had _seemed very hyper today.

We coasted for a while, enjoying the feeling of just riding the warm air currents, blasting our music. But eventually Iggy had to leave—they only wanted to pay their babysitter for two hours. That's right, they have a kid! Her name is Carrie, and even I, the queen of little children haters, think she's adorable.

When Mom and Dad came home, I got the whole interrogation thing all over again. How was my day, did I make any new friends, yadda yadda yadda…

"Can I go to the mall with this girl I met?" I interrupted. Mom looked thrilled.

"Of course! Do you need me to take you guys, or—" And she was off and running. I swear, it was like Nudge had taken over her body.

"Her mom's gonna drive us," I said. "She'll be here at 10."

"Oh," Mom said. "Okay." She sounded a little hurt, and I sighed. She was just so _moody_ lately.

"You can probably drive us, if you want," I said. "I'm sure Kate's mom isn't too thrilled about it anyway."

"No, honey, that's okay," she smiled. "Anyway, I just remembered that I've got a class then."

I sighed mentally. Whew! Crisis averted.

The next morning, I dressed quickly and sat by my front door until 10, when Kate's mom pulled up and beeped the horn. "Bye, Dad!" I yelled, yanking open the door and racing down the steps.

"See ya," Dad yelled back. I jumped into the minivan and pulled the door shut.

"Hey, Kate," I said. "Thanks for driving me, Mrs. Magner," I said.

"Oh, it's no problem, honey," she said, smiling. "So, if what I hear from Kate is true, your name is Blade Ride, and you have wings. Is that right?"

I smiled. I liked this woman. She wasn't overly pushy like so many other people I had met. "Yep," I said.

The ride to the mall took no time at all. When we got there, Mrs. Magner took off on her own, leaving me and Kate to fend for ourselves. We shopped for a good two hours, hitting every store. When we were done, both of us were staggering under the weight of our bags, and purple lines crisscrossed over our wrists from the bags.

On the drive home, we blasted music from the radio and sang at the top of our lungs. I was hard-pressed to remember ever having this much fun.

"Bye, Blade!" Kate yelled as I rolled open the door of the van and jumped out.

"See you Monday!" I said, yanking out my many bags and hauling them to my house. "Bye!"

They waited until I had gotten in the door, and then drove off with a cheerful little beep from the horn. I raced upstairs and dug through my bags, pulling out a pair of black Adidas pants and a bright pink racerback tank top. I pulled my hair into a ponytail and ran outside, leaping into the air and unfurling my wings with a snap. I rose high into the sky, until I could have been a bird. I carved through the air, executing sharp turns and midair flips. Pulling out my hair band, I shook my long blond hair loose and accelerated through the sky, tucking my hands to my chest and arcing my head to be as streamlined as possible.

After about three hours, I was sunburned, hot and _starving_. So I folded my wings and plummeted to the ground. This was always my favorite part. The long fall was much better than any roller coaster, and the wind whipping past me could always be counted on to cool you off after a long flight.

I fell for almost two thousand feet, before taking a deep breath and extended my wings. My freefall came to a quick and painful stop, as my wings yanked me out of gravity's reach.

My feet touched the ground, and I instinctively began running. But I had been going too fast, and before I had taken two steps, I fell on my face. Wincing slightly, I picked myself up and continued running to the house, and all the beautiful, wonderful food that was waiting for me there.

After I had piled together my huge lunch, I took my loot into the den to watch some TV. (Shhh! I'm not supposed to be in there with food.)

When my back touched the soft cloth of the cushy couch, I almost screamed in pain. Wincing, I peered over my shoulder and saw bright pink skin. It's scary when your skin is the same shade as your shirt.

I levered myself off the couch and was going to go find some aloe vera when I heard a car rumbling into our driveway. Frowning, I went to investigate. Mom and Dad wouldn't be back until later, and none of the Flock had called to say they were coming, and they usually did.

A blue convertible idled in the driveway while a man in a suit walked toward our door, carrying a briefcase. Hm. He didn't look so scary. Probably a salesman of some sort. The doorbell rang and I opened the door to tell him thanks, but we weren't interested.

I stumbled suddenly, over what, I wasn't sure. I felt a sharp pain in my head, and then everything went black.

**Hahahaha! Cliffy! Maybe this will prod you people into reviewing…wink, wink. But I'm serious. Five more reviews before I update again, guys! Come on…I see you eyeing that pretty blue button…you know you want to. (And you also want a cookie, don't you?) And what about Blade? What happened to her, hmmm?**


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